1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to cameras for daylight and flash photography, and more particularly to a camera having a unique flash holder for various types of flash units.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A current trend in camera design is to make the camera bodies relatively small in size in order to increase their ease of storage, portability, handling, etc. Examples of such smaller size cameras are the 110 film cameras introduced a number of years ago and the more recently introduced disk film cameras. As a consequence of making a camera more compact, the separation between a flash unit on the camera and the photographing objective of the camera is reduced, thereby possibly creating an undesirable phenomenon commonly known as "red eye". When using a flash unit and a color print film, red eye is typified by the pupils in the eyes of a person being photographed coming out red-tinted on a developed color print. Such phenomenon is attributable to the incidence, into the photographing objective, of the red light reflected from the retinas in the person's eyes illuminated by the flash light.
Red eye may be substantially avoided by increasing the separation between the flash unit and the photographing objective. As a result, light from the flash unit will reach the eyes of a person being photographed at too great an angle to be reflected by his retinas into the photographing objective.
One approach for minimizing red eye, with a small size camera using conventional flashcubes, for example, is to provide a flash extender between the camera body and a flashcube to support the flashcube at an increased distance from the photographing objective, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,214. A second approach for minimizing red eye, with a small size camera using disposable flashbulbs, is to provide a flash socket which is stored in a retracted position within the camera body and is movable to an extended position above the camera body for flash picture-taking, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,205,801. A third approach, similar to the second one, though with a small size camera using a built-in electronic flash, is to mount the flash for movement along a recess in the camera body between a retracted (idle) position in which the flash substantially conforms with the outline of the camera body and an extended (working) position in which the flash is located above the camera body, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,898.
While the three examples described above operate to locate a flash unit a suitable distance from the photographing objective to substantially avoid red eye, each one of the examples is able to locate only a single type or size of flash unit such distance. Thus, each one of the examples suffers from the disadvantage that it cannot be used with more than one type or size of flash unit.